Category: Encouragements and Exhortations
If God’s Grace Is Sufficient, Why Is This So Hard?
By Stacey Let me begin with two stories: The missionary nightmare A zealous missionary went out to evangelize Europe. He went our believing with all his heart that God’s grace was sufficient and that God would supply his every need. And what happened? He reports that he was severely beaten by the nationals. There were many attempts on his life. He was rejected by the people to whom he was ministering and he was even rejected by people from his own country. He was in danger in the city andin remote villages. He was in danger from the so called “Christians.” He had a life of toil…
Do We Evangelize Like Jesus?
by Dave In my daily devotions I have been reading through the Gospels and I was struck by the way Christ responded to what we would call “seekers.” Three people approached Jesus, seeking to follow him, and he responded in a surprising way to all three: Seeker 1: As they were going along the road, someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” Seeker 2: To another he said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, let me…
5 Non-Financial Ways to Support Bible Translators (A Blog Post With Homework)
by Dave Do you know anyone working in the field of international Bible translation? While financial support is always good there are other ways to support Bible translation. Here are 5 *free* ways that you can support Bible translators (like us). Read to the end for some homework! 1. Keep Them Up to Date on Spiritual ResourcesMost languages that do not have the Bible are found in extremely rural parts of the world. This means that the missionaries that you love and wish to support are cut off from the stream of spiritual resources that you are immersed in. Many…
A Case for Convenience
by Dave I used to feel guilty for not making my own butter. It usually happened when I was on Facebook and I saw all sorts of activities that my friends are involved in that I am not. They make their own butter/toothpaste/clothes/furniture, grow their own vegetables, hunt, fish, and build barns. Some of them make homemade soap, wash their clothes by hand, and dry them on lines. And I would look at their photos and how happy they are in them and think, “Man, am I even a good dad? My kids do not know how to raise chickens!”…
Do You Hide God’s Word in Your Heart?
If you are like me and you love the Word of God, you probably (also like me) have made resolutions through out the years to memorize Scripture. This is something that I have always struggled with. What verses should I memorize? How do I remember to review the ones I have worked on? I found out about John Piper’s Fighter Verses a few years back, which are lists of verses that are divided into helpful sections and metered out throughout the years. Basically, you will find a different verse (or group of verses) to memorize for every week in the…
Hymns and Rap: Motivation for the Christian Life
by DaveWe have an old Baptist hymnal that we use for our family worship. I like singing these with the kids because in them is a great depth of Christian experience. Through singing these songs we learn of the holiness of God (Holy, Holy, Holy), the fullness of my own need for the Lord (Out of My Bondage), and the amazing depth of the love I have received (O The Deep Deep of Jesus). And then there are those hymns that were written for the sole purpose of motivating people to go out of the pews and spread the Good…
Closed Doors or Hurdles? Hope for the Aspiring Missionary (like me).
By Dave If you have read our most recent newsletter, you know that upon arriving in France we realized that the school that we chose is not going to work out. I have to admit, it was pretty bewildering. I mean, we found cheap plane tickets, got our visas on time, received a free ride to the airport, survived 12 hours in the air with four young children, all of our bags made it to France…and the school is closing and cannot offer the hours they promised. How does that happen? You might think we should be discouraged. And to…
Husbands: Be Thankful in the Promised Land
by Dave How is being a husband like living in the Promised Land? I do not think that is a question asked very often of the biblical text. And yet, when I was reading about the Promised Land a while back I was struck by some similarities. Take Joshua 24:13 for example, “I gave you a land on which you had not labored and cities that you had not built, and you dwell in them. You eat the fruit of vineyards and olive orchards that you did not plant.” So, in this passage God reminds his people that as they…
What is Childlike Faith?
A number of years ago I had a Sunday School teacher who was talking about saving faith. He said that Christianity was an adult religion and the faith that was required was an adult faith. In other words, Christian faith is an informed faith. It is faith that is informed with an understanding of sin as offense against God, a lack of saving ability in ourselves, and a turning away from sin and to Christ. These truths, he said, really cannot be grasped by children. The implication is probably as obvious to you as it is to me. I trusted…
Encouragement From Desperation
Our Dallas preaching pastor, Craig Cabaniss, preached a really helpful sermon today on faith (listen to it here). The passage was Mark 5:21-43 which included the healing of the woman who had a flow of blood for 12 years and also the raising of Jairus’ daughter. Of the many good points about faith that he made during this sermon, there was one that struck me. As he described Jesus approaching the wailing in front of Jairus’ house, Pastor Craig commented: He comes in and he says, “Hey why are you making such a commotion and weeping? The child is not…
